1. BUILDING A HEALTHY CO‐OPERATIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN
a. HEALTHY INTERACTION IN THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE
b. PROMOTING A TRANQUIL SOCIETY – DRESS CODE
c. PREVENTING THE OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN
d. SHARI’AH PROTECTS THE MARRIED AND UNMARRIED WOMAN
e. RIGHT TO WORK & THE RIGHT TO BE A HOUSEWIFE
f. REQUIREMENT FOR CONTRIBUTION OF WOMEN TO PUBLIC LIFE

2. FAMILY AND THE STRONG FUTURE OF THE STATE
a. MARRIAGE & CHILDREN
b. KITH AND KIN
c. TRANSPARENT INHERITANCE LAWS

3. PHASE 1 CRITICAL REFORM
a. EXECUTIVE
b. FINANCE & ECONOMY
c. POLITICAL REPRESENTATION
d. JUDICIARY
e. MEDIA
f. APPEAL TO MUSLIMS LIVING IN THE WEST AND REST OF THE WORLD

4. PHASE 2 & PHASE 3 REFORM

PART VI: CONCLUSION

APPENDIX A ‐ Deriving modern policy framework from the Islamic legal sources

APPENDIX B ‐ Hizb‐ut‐Tahrir Published Books

BACKGROUND

No one can fail to be inspired by the courage of the Muslims in the Middle East. 2011 saw this courage spill over into the streets in the form of defiance in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria. Though some despots have been replaced and some elections carried out: the struggles are far from over. The defiance of the people was aimed at tyrannical rulers, at Western manipulation and fundamentally against the appalling systems in our Muslim countries, which have consistently failed to deliver even the most basic needs for our citizens.

Despite the ongoing defiance we still have tyrannical rulers, we still have Western manipulation and we still have systems in place that not only don’t deliver basic needs but in fact encourage despotism and Western interference.

This is all at a time when Western democratic capitalism is undergoing a profound crisis in economic and political legitimacy. Massive debt instability is coupled with increasing voter disillusionment and disenfranchisement from the democratic political process.

Islam is a different ideology which offers a comprehensive and superior set of solutions from the Shari’ah to manage the issues of a modern society.

The Shari’ah is legislation derived from 4 key sources of Islam: Quran, Sunnah, Ijma as‐Sahaba (consensus of the companions) and Qiyas (analogical reasoning). It’s application and direction is focussed on managing the interaction of people in society and it promotes and is in harmony with any level of technological advancement.

In fact only Shari’ah solutions are uniquely aligned with the religion, values, customs and traditions of the Muslim people, irrespective of nationality.

Hizb‐ut‐Tahrir has for decades patiently explained how the Islamic Shari’ah has the most comprehensive and powerful set of political, economic and social solutions that have ever been implemented. The Shari’ah frees and mobilises resources, money and people in a way that is unparalleled by any other set of measures either ancient or modern.

In this document we aim to demonstrate what a real Islamic political programme for Muslim countries should look like and how we could implement it if we were entrusted with power.

The implementation of failed and failing Western models can neither solve our problems nor cater for the needs of our societies. Indeed for Muslims it would be tragic to combine the mistake of ignoring the superior delivery of Islam’s political, social and economic models with the greater mistake of disobeying Allah(swt), the Creator Himself. How can that path end in anything but misfortune and ignominy?

Islamic political structures secure optimised principles of political, economic and social approach that cannot be overturned by a malicious or ignorant ruler. The rules themselves lock in a guarantee of delivering progress because the architect of these rules is Allah (swt) himself. Compare this to the hollow guarantees we are seeing offered by those who would claim to build a future for Muslim countries.

Shari’ah structures ensure that no matter how bad the rulers, there is an absolute limit to the damage they can do, because rulers cannot change or ignore Shari’ah rules without the Muslims being obliged to overthrow them. The evil of people and their actions is reduced by the Islamic system and their good is enhanced.

The Western system guarantees that no matter how good or altruistic the people are, the system forces decision making to favour selfish, short term, individual interests over the interests of society and the nation. The evil actions of people are rewarded by the Western system and their good actions are exploited.

Close adherence to the detailed Shari’ah rules in a society results in the protection or promotion of a number of critical ideals: human life, intellect, property, lineage, faith, security and the State. It is time for us to stop ignoring, circumventing and lacking confidence in the Shari’ah and instead time for us to release its tremendous power and mobilise our countries.

Finally, let us remember that one of the reasons that Islamic solutions are designed to achieve a strong, prosperous and unified state, is linked to the fundamental purpose of the Muslim Ummah. For only a strong, prosperous and unified state can carry out the mission of Da’wah, to the whole of mankind, that Allah (swt) has entrusted the Muslims with; a mission that is beautifully stated in the following verse of the Holy Quran: “You are the best of the nations raised up for (the benefit of) mankind, you enjoin what is right and forbid the wrong and believe in Allah”. (3.10)

THE PROBLEMS OF A TYPICAL MUSLIM COUNTRY

All Muslim countries whether in the Middle East or elsewhere suffer from the same core set of problems. To illustrate this consider the case of Egypt. The picture for Turkey, Pakistan or indeed any other Muslim country would look near enough the same with some minor variation.

‐ Over 12% of the labour force unemployed ‐ more than 3 million people

‐ Public debt in excess of 1 trillion Egyptian pounds, 63% of government expenditure

‐ High inflation with prices outstripping income

iii. Health

‐ 8 million children Hep C; 29% of under 5 year olds in Egypt have stunted growth; 29% children anaemic

‐ 26% plus Egyptians illiterate

‐ Estimated 12% of youth addicted to drugs

iv. Education

‐ No Egyptian University in the top 500 in the world

‐ Ranked 129/134 in terms of quality of pre‐university education

v. Social

‐ 5.4 million of marriages ending in divorce due to poverty, unemployment, crippling personal status laws

‐ 11 million plus young men and women unmarried causing a rise in illicit relationships and consequent illicit births – babies deprived of stable families

PROPOSALS FROM OTHER POLITICAL PARTIES

It is astonishing, given the situation described above, to consider the proposals made for improvement by a range of political parties in Muslim countries. Whether looking at secular parties or so called “Islamist” parties, their programmes seem to be united by the following characteristics:

‐ A continued adherence to the crisis ridden Western democratic model without any consideration of its demonstrated flaws.

‐ An absence of a robust plan to address either the crippling levels of debt or currency and price instability.

‐ A list of ambitious economic and social development programmes without any detail on how the government will be empowered to pay for these programmes.

‐ An absence of a realistic plan for empowering an executive strong enough to make positive change and accounting structures strong enough to keep the executive in check.

‐ Minimal mention of Islam, defaulting to meaningless generalisations when it is mentioned.

‐ Subordination of Islam to a secular constitution rather than subordination of an Islamic constitution to the Shari’ah.

‐ A total lack of understanding and faith in how Islamic economic, political and social solutions can deliver what is missing in our countries.

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS AND ISLAMIC EVIDENCES

This suggested policy document should be read along with the many books Hizb ut‐Tahrir has produced, which extensively detail the Islamic evidences from the Qur’an and the Sunnah of our Prophet ﷺ from which these principles and policies have been derived. A list of books is provided in the Appendix. In particular Muqaddimah Al‐Dustoor, a 2 volume detailed draft Islamic constitution from Hizb‐ut‐Tahrir, relating each article to the Islamic evidences from which it is derived.